The Marvel and DC Universes are filled to the brim with high-flying heroes and the nefarious forces that they endlessly fight. But as bad as alien invaders and superpowered despots might be, the supernatural corners of these worlds hold their darkest horrors behind their pitch-black veils. In the Marvel Universe, the worst of these comes in the form of Mephisto, an undying devil who's troubled the Avengers, Spider-Man and Marvel's other heroes for decades.
Similarly, Neron has menaced the Justice League and DC's mystical heroes for years. Now, we're taking a closer look at both of these hellish villains to see which one is truly more menacing.
WHO IS DC'S NERON?
First introduced in 1995's Underworld Unleashed #1 by Mark Waid and Howard Porter, Neron is a literal fallen angel, having been cast from Heaven to the deepest pits of Hell. When Neron first made himself known to Earth's heroes, it was after imbuing several of DC's most prolific villains with even greater powers in exchange for their mortal souls. This gave Neron the opportunity he needed to cross over into the DC Universe, where he continued to trade souls for power when not wreaking havoc firsthand.
Even though his plot was soon enough undone by the longtime Flash villain the Trickster, Neron proved capable of causing the temporary death of Wonder Woman through his actions, on top of murdering Mongul with his bare hands. In the years since then, Neron saw his empire crumble as he lost control of Hell and was even demoted to the rank of a Rhyming Demon, the same as the heroic Etrigan. Since the events of New 52 and the various resets of the DC Universe between the present and Neron's earliest appearances, he has become of particular interest to John Constantine in comics and the Legends of Tomorrow in the Arrowverse, even if he has never posed a substantial threat.
Mephisto, Marvel's Evil Incarnate
Mephisto was introduced to the Marvel Universe in 1968's Silver Surfer #3, by Stan Lee and John Buscema. However, his history within the Marvel Universe goes much farther back than that. Mephisto has been manipulating humanity for thousands of years, and in that time he has become very good at what he does. Mephisto has been behind some of the most horrific events in Marvel history, including the birth of Scarlet Witch's illusory twins, as well as being the mastermind of the much-maligned One More Day storyline that culminated in Peter Parker and Mary Jane trading their marriage for Aunt May's life.
Harboring a particularly deep grudge against the Avengers, Mephisto will stop at nothing to wipe their names from the history books. Most recently, he did just that in Heroes Reborn by unleashing the power of the Pandemonium Cube and rewriting reality itself without the Avengers as part of it. Eventually, this epic plan was undone, but that merely inconvenienced Mephisto, who regarded his impossible accomplishment as little more than a preview of things to come.
Neron vs. Mephisto: Who is the Ultimate Evil?
While both Neron and Mephisto can be universal-level threats, Mephisto still reigns supreme as the ultimate evil between these two creative universes. As a relatively newer character, Neron hasn't had as many chances to torment DC's heroes and Mephisto has had with Marvel's heroes.
While Neron has accomplished a fair amount in killing Wonder Woman, going to war with the Justice League and taking on most of DC's active supernatural heroes, his accomplishments ultimately pale in comparison to Mephisto's own. Mephisto, on the other hand, has cast himself as the Avengers' ultimate villain, and he's rewritten history more than once to get what he wants. With all that in mind, there are only a few beings who can stand up to Mephisto's power, and Neron, unfortunately, isn't one of them.